[Ch. 03] The Spiritual Journey of A. R. Rahman: From Dileep Kumar to Iconic Composer

Today, Rahman says ‘Islam has given me peace. As Dileep I had an inferiority complex. As A. R. Rahman I feel like I have been born again.’ Both his father and mother were believers in Astrology. His mother took him along once to a astrologer to get the horoscope of Bala (Talat) done

He asked the astrologer to suggest an Islamic name for Dilip. The astrologer on seeing Dilip immediately told his mother to name him as Abdul Rahman and shorten it to A. R. Rahman. When his mother asked the astrologer why the other initial ‘R’, the astrologer replied “Give him a name with two initials and mark my words, he will grow up to be a great man”.

His mother did accordingly. But the A and R would later become Allah Rakha on the suggestion of renowned composer Naushad Ali. In an interview, he was to say about his father, ” My father passed away when I was 9 years old. My mother used to narrate many tales about my father which used to make me very happy. My father was regarded to be highly knowledgeable in music by many people. I still listen to many of the old songs tuned by him. I think that it’s his enormous knowledge of music that has come down to me by the grace of God”.

When asked what prompted him to convert to Islam, he says “I remember my father suffering. He was taken to eight to nine hospitals, including the CMC hospital in Vellore and the Vijaya hospital in Madras. I saw him suffering physical pain… I remember the Christian priests who would read from the Bible beside his hospital bed… I remember the pujas and the yagnas performed by the pundits… by the time, the Muslim pirs came , it was too late. He had already left us..

After my father passed away, for some years when I was a teenager I believed there was no God. But there was a feeling of restlessness within me. I realised that there can be no life without a force governing us… without one God. And I found what I was looking for in Islam.

I would go with my mother to durgahs. And pirsaab Karim Mullashah Qadri would advise us. When we shifted to this house, we resolved to stick to the faith.” Rahman became a very religious and devout Muslim. After this period his career graph began to take the upward path. More and more advertising offers came his way. In 1989 Rahman was very intent on having an own studio so that he would have dedicated recording facilities where he could not only equip himself with the latest infrastucture but also experiment with music at his convenience. At this time, the Pir came to his house and blessed him saying that he would attain unparalled success. The very next day the Pir passed away.

Thus Rahman decided to establish his studio at the very spot where he had been blessed by the Pir. He called his studio Panchathan Record Inn and it was attached to his house in Kodambakkam. Even today, the first thing that you notice when you enter his studio is a framed photograph of the Pir. The studio abounds with Islamic inscriptions. This studio would later develop into one of India’s most well-equipped and advanced recording studios. In his established state-of-the-art sound and recording studio he began experimenting in sound engineering, design and production.

He also began a collection of sound samples, creating one of the most comprehensive sonic libraries in Asia. Continuing with his stint in the advertising world Rahman did a lot of popular ads like those for Parry’s, Leo Coffee, Springz Mineral Water, Boost featuring Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev, Titan, Remanika Sarees, Premier Pressure Cooker, MRF Tyres, Hero Puch, The Hindu Young World and Asian Paints. He also scored the title music for television channels like JJTV, Sun TV, and Asianet.

He also scored the music for numerous television and radio commercials, scores for corporate films and documentaries, multi-media audio-visual scores national integration programmes, social awareness and public campaign programmes and international documentaries in many languages. These scores range from 10 seconds to a complete hour. The jingles that he composed for the Leo Coffee ad starring Aravind Swamy and the Asian Paints ad directed by Rajeev Menon also won him awards and recognition.

He also won an award for composing the theme music of the Madras Telugu Academy’s Spirit of Unity Concerts. Later he would say about his stint in advertising ” Working in ads contributed to the precision in my music. In jingles, you only have a few seconds to create a mood, or convey a message or emotion. Jingles taught me discipline.”